In my last post I talked on a high level about the new features of Informatica MDM 10 and the driving reasons behind considering an upgrade this year, especially for those who are currently on versions 9.5.1 and lower. In this part of the Upgrading to Informatica MDM 10 series, I will focus on what one needs to be aware of when upgrading existing functionality to the new version. There are several factors that will influence the effort required to perform an upgrade to MDM 10, with the total effort varying from as little as just a few weeks to as long as several months from start to finish.
Before I delve into the various aspects of the actual upgrade I would like to make a recommendation: focus first on upgrading current functionality and wait to enhance with new functionality after the upgrade itself is complete. There are enough moving parts in the upgrade itself that it is not advisable to also attempt to enable new features or perform other enhancements at the same time. The first priority should be to ensure that your existing functionality is working and regression tested on MDM 10. Once you have confirmed that everything has been successfully transitioned to the new version you can start working on new enhancements and other improvements.
The key factors that will determine the scope of effort of an upgrade are:
In my last post I talked on a high level about the new features of Informatica MDM 10 and the driving reasons behind considering an upgrade this year, especially for those who are currently on versions 9.5.1 and lower. In this part of the Upgrading to Informatica MDM 10 series, I will focus on what one needs to be aware of when upgrading existing functionality to the new version. There are several factors that will influence the effort required to perform an upgrade to MDM 10, with the total effort varying from as little as just a few weeks to as long as several months from start to finish.
Before I delve into the various aspects of the actual upgrade I would like to make a recommendation: focus first on upgrading current functionality and wait to enhance with new functionality after the upgrade itself is complete. There are enough moving parts in the upgrade itself that it is not advisable to also attempt to enable new features or perform other enhancements at the same time. The first priority should be to ensure that your existing functionality is working and regression tested on MDM 10. Once you have confirmed that everything has been successfully transitioned to the new version you can start working on new enhancements and other improvements.
The key factors that will determine the scope of effort of an upgrade are:
- Current MDM version. If your current version is prior to v9.5.1 it will be necessary to perform a metadata conversion as there were significant changes to the structure of lineage metadata in this version. In addition in v9.5.1 the Timeline feature was introduced, which will likely require a data migration effort to maintain the effective date functionality as well as some re-work in the Data Director (IDD) user interface. Finally, if your current version is prior to 9.6 you may need to convert hub user exits from PL/SQL to Java. I will talk about that more in a moment.
- Degree of customization. Customizations to hub server logic through database user exits will need to be refitted or rewritten in Java as the API was deprecated after version 9.5.1. The effort involved in converting these user exits to Java will depend on many factors, not the least of which is the use of the deprecated stored procedure API’s that Informatica has moved into the Services Integration Framework. In addition any external use of the stored procedure API will need to be updated. Probably the most common application to leverage the stored procedure API is the batch scheduler, which will need to be updated to invoke MDM processes either through the SIF web services API or via shell scripts.
- Required infrastructure changes. The shift of application logic from the database to the application server layer could mean that the server environment hardware needs to be re-assessed. It might be necessary to give the application server more horsepower.
Of the above factors the highest impact to scope in an upgrade will be the degree of customization. Some MDM customers have been very conservative about their use of user exits and other custom components but there are a number of customers who have used them liberally and the effort in these cases can be significant. This shouldn’t be interpreted as a blanket statement, however. Not all custom components are created equal. Some will be quite quick to refit for an upgrade while some may require full re-writes. In addition, some functionality that previously required custom code may now exist as out of the box, configurable functionality.
In order to ensure a smooth transition to MDM 10 it is critical to have a team that knows what to look for to identify the areas that need special attention, devise a plan to address them and follow through on that plan. Infoverity offers a full range of services and has a team with deep experience in MDM strategy and delivery. Contact us to find out more.
Next in the series on Upgrading to Informatica MDM 10 will be Part 3: Streamlining Integration and Improving Workflow. Keep an eye on this space for more information coming soon.
Brian Grant, Managing Consultant, EMEA
